"roll" news and stories

The Cinnamon Bun Bread that Alison, from The Flour Room, recently made is the perfect recipe for anyone who loves cinnamon buns but doesn't have the time or the inclination to make a whole batch of yeasted rolls. The recipe is from Fin Arthur Flour and does use yeast in the recipe, but it is no more difficult than a quickbread. The batter is mixed up, stands at room temperature for about an hour while the yeast works and gives the bread some lightness, opening up the crumb of the bread to prevent it from becoming too dense, and is then poured into a loaf pan for baking. A bit of baking powder helps the bread rise even more, making this a pretty foolproof option, even for the yeast-phobic bakers out there.

This loaf has a cinnamon sugar topping and cinnamon chips swirled throughout. Cinnamon chips are available at many grocery stores, but alternative options for this loaf include adding in chocolate chips or doubling (or tripling) the topping recipe, dividing the batter in half, and adding a layer of cinnamon sugar mixture to the center of the loaf.

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The Pumpkin Roll Cake is a back-of-the-box recipe, meaning that it is usually printed on the wrapper on cans of Libby's solid-pack canned pumpkin, so it is a recipe that just about everyone (in the US, anyway) seems to have come across at one time or another. Discounting the brands sold at natural foods stores, Libby's is the most common brand of pumpkin and the one you are most likely to see when at the grocery store, so it is not terribly surprising to find that when people are not making pie with their canned pumpkin, they are often making this cake, as did Nicole, from Pinch My Salt. The cake consists of a very thin pumpkin sponge caked that is rolled up and spread with a generous amount of cream cheese filling, giving it the ideal cake-to-frosting ratio for anyone who enjoys cream cheese frosting.

The recipe is after the jump.

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After acquiring a really tasty bottle of dipping sauce from Trader Joe's this week, I realized that Asian wraps, rolls and other dipable items are found in takeout containers more often than they are made in the home kitchen. Not that there is anything wrong with that, of course, especially if you know a good takeout place, but making the food is part of the fun of eating. This is especially true of finger (or chopstick) foods.

Asian Wraps & Rolls uses easy-to-follow, step-by-step tutorials and techniques to walk you through the process of making these fun foods at home. The book spends a lot of time going over ingredients, some of which may be unfamiliar to you, as well as popular sauces and condiments, before getting into wrap construction. Recipes include Warm Mango and Shrimp Rolls, Wok Fried Wontons, Vegetable Spring Rolls and Pork and Betel-leaf Wraps, just to name a few. Once you have the basics, you can always use the methods used in this book to branch out and try your own flavor combinations.

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A spa in San Francisco, CA (where else?) will treat you like a sushi roll. Spa Radiance offers a California Roll body treatment that involves sea salt, sesame seeds, seaweed, cucumbers and avocado oil, according to a post on Daily Candy. Besides rice, the only thing missing, mercifully, is the crab sticks. You'd think they could exfoliate your heels with crab claws or something. The sea salt and sesame seeds are used in a scrub; the cukes and seaweed are part of a body mask; and the avocado oil is used in a final massage. I couldn't find this treatment on Spa Radiance's menu, so perhaps it's only offered on a limited basis. They do offer a coffee and sugar scrub, however.

[Via Food Migration]

This sandwich is a great, tasty way to use up leftover steak and it's very simple to make, mostly because I rely on prepared barbecue sauce. All you need to do is chop up some onion and mushrooms (white or portobello) into small pieces and saute in a pan with a little bit of olive oil, salt and pepper until they are tender. I use a few tablespoons of onion and about 1 cup of the mushrooms, sometimes a bit more, per sandwich, but the amount is completely flexible. Vary the amounts depending on the size of your rolls. While the mushrooms are cooking, shred up some leftover beef and add it to the mushrooms once they're tender. Stir in enough of your favorite barbecue sauce to moisten everything, cook until the mixture is heated through, and serve on a fresh roll or baguette. This sandwich can also be made with all mushrooms for a vegetarian alternative.

[Photo by Nicole Weston]